Despite all the housing-related proposals in Sacramento, lawmakers have apparently yet to learn that more government involvement, making housing more expensive and less profitable, is never going to solve the state’s housing affordability problems.

Discussions of housing oftentimes tend to focus on single-family developments or other types of housing for purchase, and neglect rental properties, which is unfortunate, since rentals make up nearly half of the housing stock in California.

Read More: http://www.sgvtribune.com/opinion/20170915/rent-control-defies-basic-economics

September 15, 2017 -- -- A bill authored by Santa Monica Assemblymember Richard Bloom that would channel more money to local governments to finance construction of affordable housing was appproved by the State Senate this week.

AB 1568 -- which allows local governments to use new sales tax and increased property tax revenue to finance infrastructure improvement projects -- passed out of the Senate on a 29-11 vote on Wednesday.

Read More: https://actiontakesaction.com/admin/website/system-pages/?pageId=1837908

From Elaine Golden-Gealer

How To Handle Homeless Individual On or Around Your Property

There have been a lot of back and forth's about homeless individuals on SM homeowner property (storing things in lockers, sitting in driveways etc)... here is some new info I have not seen shared. I just spoke with two very nice SMPD officers who instructed me to fill out an online form due to a homeless individual on my property.

He had left the area by the time they arrived and should he return without me being present, the form gives them authorization to treat him/her as a trespasser. So, if you have a homeless person on your property this is what SMPD recommends you do:

1) Call the SMPD non-emergency line 310-395-9931 to report the individual to officers. Or call 911 if you are in danger.

2) Fill out this form: https://www.santamonicapd.org/trespass/

3) They gave me badge # 3486 to put on the form.

4) Call 310-458-8953 to inform the homeless team about the individual and let them know you completed the form. I am told they send teams to follow up on these written requests. 5) Hope that our hard earned tax dollars go to work. 

Some 1,000 homeless people live on Santa Monica’s streets, without a guarantee of a warm bed or roof over their head. It is a social problem that is region, state, and nation wide, affecting communities large and small, urban, and beachfront.

The City clearly recognizes the severity of the issue and in many ways, and at many levels, continues to make monumental efforts to find solutions to help alleviate the numbers of individuals that are living on the streets, in their cars or in shelters, but unfortunately without major successes. As such the homeless population in Santa Monica rose some 26 percent this past year alone.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2017/09/sma-r-t-gimme-shelter-borrow-phrase/

September 13, 2017 -- The Santa Monica City Council Tuesday approved the creation of a full-time senior advisor for homelessness, agreeing to allocate $320,159 over two years for the job.

Reacting to a 26 percent jump in the population of homeless people -- including a 40 percent jump in those living on the streets -- the council voted unanimously and without discussion for the position in City Manager Rick Cole’s office.

Read More:  https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/September-2017/09_14_2017_Santa_Monica_City_Council_Approves_New_Post_of_Senior_Advisor_on_Homelessness.html

On Tuesday, September 26, 2017, at 11 a.m., the Santa Monica City Clerk and LA County Clerk will host a National Voter Registration Day event at City Hall and introduce LA County’s new voting system. That evening, the LA County Clerk will give a presentation to City Council on the future of voting.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2017/09/september-26th-national-voter-registration-day/

Launching September 13, City Rising is a multimedia documentary program that traces gentrification and displacement through a lens of historical discriminatory laws and practices. Fearing the loss of their community’s soul, residents are gathering into a movement, not just in California, but across the nation as the rights to property, home, community and the city are taking center stage in a local and global debate.

In 2016, residents in five Bay Area cities went to the ballot to pass new rent control and eviction protection laws, including a successful effort in Mountain View, the home of Google. Earlier in the year, the City Council in Santa Rosa, just north of San Francisco, passed the first of these ordinances that California has seen in three decades, thanks to a sustained community organizing effort.

Read More: https://www.kcet.org/shows/city-rising/the-new-tenant-movement-for-housing-justice

Watch at: https://www.kcet.org/shows/city-rising

We already do a lot in Santa Monica, but obviously the explosion in the regional homeless population (up 23% in one year in LA County) is hitting us with a 26% increase in our annual count here in Santa Monica.

No one pretends we can solve homelessness in 8.3 square miles, but Santa Monica is determined to do everything we can within our borders. As to what's new, we are doing several new things and are working on more:

In July we completed a pilot joint effort between Police Patrol and Human Services to conduct weekly 3 am operations in Palisades Park. Overnight camping there is illegal. But rather than just issuing citations, Police used the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data used by local non-profit homeless service agencies during the interaction to connect homeless individuals to resources that correspond to their needs (housing, employment, mental health services etc.)

Read More: http://www.smobserved.com/story/2017/09/12/news/city-manager-rick-cole-how-santa-monica-can-do-more-for-its-homeless-population/3096.html

September 13, 2017 -- Less than three months after declaring victory in a long fight with the City to turn the Santa Monica Civic Center parking lot into a playing field, parents said Tuesday they have learned the proposal could be endangered again -– this time by the state Coastal Commission.

At the City Council’s meeting Tuesday, parents said they had just learned the commission put two items on its consent agenda for a meeting Thursday in Cambria which could take the space needed for the sports field.

Read More:  https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/September-2017/09_13_2017_New_Questions_Raised_Over_Proposed_Santa_Monica_Civic_Center_Playing_Field.html

When it’s more valuable as an excuse to take away a long, long-promised playing field from our kids.

 I don’t want to point any fingers — yet — but something stinky almost slipped through the cracks only a few know about. And if it turns out to be what it appears to be, then I THINK it’s high time you re-evaluated who your City government is working for. Here’s a clue: it may not be you, dear resident of Santa Monica.

Read More: http://smdp.com/when-is-parking-a-gotcha/162549